Smart cards can be, for example, plastic cards having an embedded integrated circuit (IC). That IC may be a logic circuit with its associated memories or a microcontroller with its associated memories and software, or a microcontroller with its associated memories and software coupled to a custom circuit block or interface.
Comparison methods are used to calculate a difference between the two operands to be compared and to supply “0” or “1” binary information representing an equality or inequality between the two operands.
However, a need exists in some cryptographic applications to be able to carry out a secure comparison of two operands that can indicate whether the two operands are equal or whether one is greater or less than the other.